Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 10
When discussing evangelical divorce/remarriage and the claim that the Sermon on the Mount was “not given for us to obey,” the speaker argues the problem is not lack of “saving faith” but lack of willingness to obey—what specific teachings of Jesus would most expose whether your own faith is merely “belief” or truly “believe and obey,” and what costly obedience would a real “U-turn” require in your life or church?
Another way to ask: What teachings of Jesus would most clearly show whether your faith is only belief or real “believe and obey”? What hard “U-turn” kind of obedience might your life or church need to make?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Based on the speaker, Jesus’ hard commands—especially on divorce/remarriage and the Sermon on the Mount—expose whether faith produces obedience or remains only belief. A real “U-turn” would require treating Jesus’ commands as binding “law of Christ,” even when obedience brings suffering, loss, or major life change.
- He says evangelical response to Jesus’ divorce teaching is often “drop dead… I’m going to divorce… that’s it… I know I’m not going to live by that.”
- He argues the issue isn’t lack of conversion: “The problem is not that they don’t have saving faith… The problem is they’ve been taught they don’t have to obey.”
- He reports a common teaching: “the Sermon on the Mount wasn’t given for us to obey… [but] so we could see that we can’t obey.”
- He gives costly-obedience examples: staying with a difficult spouse; refusing war—“go to prison instead of being drafted.”
- He returns to the Anabaptist emphasis: salvation teaching is “believe in and obey him,” “walk in newness of life,” and requires “repentance and reformation of life.”